United States President Donald Trump has said he will make a decision on how the US refers to the “Persian Gulf” during an upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said he expected his hosts to ask about the name the US uses for the waterway during his first trip to the Middle East since retaking the White House.
“I’ll have to make a decision,” Trump said in response to a question about whether he would make an announcement on the body of water’s name.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. I don’t know if feelings are going to be hurt.”
“I’m going to be given a briefing on that and I’ll make a decision,” Trump added.
Trump’s comments came after US media reported that he plans to use the May 13-16 trip to announce that the US will begin referring to the body of water as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.
The name of the waterway has long been a source of tensions between Arab nations and Iran.
Iran argues that the “Persian Gulf” is the appropriate name in light of historical evidence, including ancient maps, that shows it is part of its territory.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and other Arab states use the term “Arabian Gulf” or “the Gulf”.
In 2023, Tehran summoned the Iraqi ambassador to protest his country’s use of the name “Arabian Gulf Cup” for the region’s flagship football tournament.
In 2012, Iran threatened to sue internet giant Google for leaving the waterway nameless on its online map services.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the latest suggestions of a name change as “indicative of hostile intent toward Iran and its people”, and warned that such a move would “only bring the wrath of all Iranians from all walks of life”.
“Such biased actions are an affront to all Iranians, regardless of their background or place of residence,” Araghchi said in a post on X early on Thursday.
“Let’s hope that the absurd rumours about the PERSIAN Gulf that are going around are no more than a disinformation campaign by ‘forever warriors’ to anger Iranians all over the world and agitate them.”
A jury in the United States has acquitted three former police officers in the controversial beating death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old father who was killed after a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee.
On Wednesday, former officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith were found not guilty in a state-level case that included charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
This was their second criminal trial, after facing federal charges for Nichols’s death as well.
In that case, the three officers were also acquitted of the most serious charges they faced, though they were found guilty of witness tampering for allegedly attempting to cover up the beating.
There were five police officers in total involved in the Nichols killing, which took place on January 7, 2023. As video of the beating spread online, Nichols’s death reignited the debate over law enforcement violence and the over-policing of Black communities.
In the wake of the verdict, Memphis District Attorney Steve Mulroy told reporters that Nichols’s family was “devastated” and “outraged”.
“We can understand why they would be outraged, given the evidence,” Mulroy said.
“Was I surprised that there wasn’t a single guilty verdict on any of the counts or any of the lesser-included offences, given the overwhelming evidence that we presented? Yes, I was surprised,” he added. “Do I have an explanation for it? No.”
A portrait of Tyre Nichols is displayed at his memorial service on January 17, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee [Adrian Sainz/AP Photo]
All five police officers involved in the beating were members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION unit, a now-defunct squad that focused on alleged crime hotspots in the city. The outcry after Nichols’s death led to it being disbanded.
On the day of his killing, Nichols was pulled over for allegedly driving recklessly, though prosecutors have cast doubt on that motive, pointing out that police body cameras show no evidence of wrongdoing.
Officers pulled Nichols from his car and tased him while he was on the ground. Nichols then attempted to flee. He ran into a residential neighbourhood not far from where his mother lived, where the five police officers wrestled him to the ground and proceeded to kick, punch and beat him with a baton.
Cameras captured Nichols crying out to his mother for help. He died three days later in hospital. An autopsy identified his cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.
Two of the police officers involved – Desmond Mills Jr and Emmitt Martin – had avoided trial by striking deals with federal prosecutors in exchange for guilty pleas. The two reportedly took plea deals related to the state charges as well.
Wednesday’s verdict was the culmination of a nine-day-long trial for the other three officers.
The defence team for the three sought to shift the blame to the other officers for the bulk of the violence. It also accused Nichols of resisting arrest and not complying with police orders, leaving the officers fearful for their safety.
“This is Emmitt Martin’s and Tyre Nichols’s doing,” said Martin Zummach, a defence lawyer for Smith, one of the three officers.
Zummach also alleged that credit and debit cards not belonging to Nichols were found in his car after his beating. That, he told the jury, could explain Nichols’s decision to flee the scene.
RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols, attends the state trial of former police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith Jr on May 7 [Chris Day/Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network via AP, Pool]
But prosecutors in the case argued that Nichols fled out of fear for his life. They also said the officers had a responsibility to stop the beating, which caused tears and bleeding in Nichols’s brain.
Video of the beating was also shown to the jury from different angles, as the prosecutors tried to convey the violence of Nichols’s final moments.
The trial, which saw seven days of hearings and two days of jury deliberations, took place in Hamilton County, a majority white area in Tennessee. A judge had previously ordered the court proceedings be moved away from Shelby County, where Memphis is located, for fear of that the public scrutiny could bias the jury pool.
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represented the Nichols family, released a statement after Wednesday’s decision denouncing the outcome.
United States President Donald Trump has selected Doctor Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, as his nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his previous nominee.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said that Means would work closely with RFK Jr, who is his Health and Human Services secretary.
“Her academic achievements, together with her life’s work, are absolutely outstanding”, the post states. “Dr Casey Means has the potential to be one of the finest Surgeon Generals in United States History”.
Means, who was an adviser on RFK Jr’s 2024 presidential run, is currently serving as an advisor to the White House, and makes frequent appearances on TV and podcasts defending the administration’s moves related to health and nutrition policy.
She has no government experience and dropped out of her surgical residency programme, stating that she had become disillusioned with traditional medicine.
She founded a company named Levels that helps users track blood pressure and other health metrics. She also makes money from sponsoring various dietary supplements and other products that she says have health benefits on her social media account.
Few health experts would dispute that the American diet, full of processed foods, is a contributor to obesity and related problems. But Means goes further, linking changes in diet and lifestyle to a host of conditions including infertility, Alzheimer’s, depression and erectile dysfunction.
Members of the administration, such as RFK Jr, have attacked measures such as mandatory vaccinations and the use of fluoride in drinking water, both practices that scientists and health officials say have been highly successful public health measures.
Attacks on such measures and traditional sources of scientific authority showed limited, but energising, appeal among a group of core supporters during the 2024 campaign, tapping into mistrust of medical expertise as well as common disillusionment with the US healthcare and food production industries.
Critics say that appeals from figures like Trump and his allies tap into legitimate sources of concern while leaving their root causes largely unaddressed and simultaneously rolling back environmental and health protections.
Fox News contributor and former Trump’s innitial pick for surgeon general, Janette Nesheiwat. ]File: George Walker IV/AP Photo]
The announcement comes after Trump withdrew his initial pick for the key health post, a medical contributor on Fox News named Janette Nesheiwat, who had been scheduled for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday.
Nesheiwat had come under fire from far-right allies of the administration over her support for the COVID-19 vaccine and allegations that she may have misrepresented her academic and medical school history.
Pakistan has promised to retaliate after India launched military strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, fuelling fears of a broader confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan’s government on Wednesday pledged to respond “at a time, place and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty”.
Pakistan’s military said at least 31 civilians were killed and 46 others injured in the Indian attacks and ensuing cross-border shelling, describing the strikes as having “ignited an inferno in the region”.
In New Delhi, Indian officials briefed more than a dozen foreign envoys, telling them: “If Pakistan responds, India will respond”.
It comes amid spiralling tensions following a deadly attack last month on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan-based fighters. Islamabad has denied any involvement.
Cross-border shelling
India’s government said its forces targeted nine sites it described as “terrorist infrastructure”, including facilities allegedly linked to the fighters who killed 25 tourists and one local in last month’s Kashmir attack.
However, in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, residents said Indian missiles struck a mosque-seminary in the city centre.
Indian security force personnel stand guard near the site of a fighter jet crash in Wuyan in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama district, May 7, 2025]Sharafat Ali/Reuters]
The building, which included residential quarters, was left in ruins, with five missiles reportedly killing three people inside the two-storey structure.
Meanwhile, heavy cross-border shelling and gunfire continued along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir. Officials said 13 civilians were killed and 43 wounded on the Indian side, while at least six civilians were killed on the Pakistani side.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office claimed that five Indian fighter jets and drones were shot down during the escalation. The Indian embassy in Beijing dismissed reports of downed aircraft as “disinformation”.
Sharif promises response
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar told TRT World that there had been communication between the national security advisers of the two countries, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged that Pakistan would respond decisively.
“For the blatant mistake that India made last night, it will now have to pay the price”, Sharif said on state broadcaster PTV. “Perhaps they thought that we would retreat, but they forgot that … this is a nation of brave people”.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Islamabad, said that retaliation from Pakistan was widely anticipated.
“Pakistan is expected to retaliate within the next 24 to 48 hours, and that’s something we’ve been hearing from politicians across the board”, he said.
“They’re citing Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which says that a country has the right to respond to an unprovoked act of aggression”.
India defended its actions, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh claiming its “targets we had set were destroyed with exactness according to a well-planned strategy”.
“We have shown sensitivity by ensuring that no civilian population was affected in the slightest”, he added.
Islamabad claims six sites targeted by India were not linked to armed groups.
A paramilitary soldier stands guard outside the Government Health and Educational complex after Indian strikes in Muridke, about 30 kilometres, or 20 miles, from Lahore, on May 7, 2025]Arif Ali/AFP]
‘ I want to see it stop ‘
The Pakistani military said 57 commercial aircraft from multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Thailand, South Korea and China, were in Pakistan’s airspace at the time of India’s attack, putting thousands of passengers at risk.
India has since ordered the closure of at least 21 civilian airports in the northern and western parts of the country for passenger flights until May 10, The Hindu reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Prime Minister Sharif and expressed Ankara’s support. According to the Turkish presidency, Erdogan praised Pakistan’s “calm and restrained policies” during the crisis.
In Washington, United States President Donald Trump said he hoped to help de-escalate the situation. “I want to see it stop. And if I can do anything to help, I will be there”, he told reporters at the White House. “We want to see them work it out”.
Thick black smoke has emerged from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, signalling that the cardinals sealed off inside have failed to elect a new pope in their first conclave vote.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St Peter’s Square to await the smoke, which came about three hours and 15 minutes after the 133 cardinals were sequestered.
Cardinals from about 70 countries were called back to Rome following Pope Francis’s death on April 21 after 12 years as head of the Catholic Church. As they were shut off from the outside world on Wednesday, their mobile phones were surrendered, and airwaves around the Vatican were jammed to prevent communications until a new pope is elected.
The cardinals will return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday to vote again, and will continue to do so until one of them secures a two-thirds majority – 89 votes – to be elected pope.
The start of the conclave, with a solemn procession of cardinals and other clergy into the Sistine Chapel, was streamed live on large screens in front of St Peter’s Basilica.
Huge crowds waited in St Peter’s Square, watching screens that showed the chimney and the occasional seagull. While some left in frustration, those who stayed cheered when the smoke finally billowed out.
“It would be perfect, lovely to be here for a new pope,” said Irish tourist Catriona Hawe, 60.
“Francis was brilliant, progressive, a man of the people, though he didn’t move things forward as quickly as I would have liked,” she said.
“The Church won’t be doing itself any favours if it elects someone conservative.”
Black smoke emerged from the chimney over the Sistine Chapel at 21:00 on Wednesday evening, signalling that a first ballot has been held at the conclave and has concluded without the election of a Pope.https://t.co/hlmAJdskTO pic.twitter.com/AKxuUbDK2g
Reporting from Vatican City, Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid said the black smoke, signifying that a new pope had not been elected, was expected.
“In no living memory has there been a pope that was elected on the first day of the conclave,” she said.
“Usually this first vote is a way for the cardinals to understand how things are going and in which direction their fellow electors are thinking,” before they return to the guesthouse where they are staying for the election, said Abdel-Hamid.
Francis named 108 of the 133 “princes of the church,” choosing many pastors from countries including Mongolia, Sweden and Tonga that had never had a cardinal before.
His decision to surpass the usual limit of 120 cardinal electors has injected an extra degree of uncertainty in a process that is always full of suspense.
Many cardinals had not met until last week and lamented they needed more time to get to know one another, raising questions about how long it might take for one man to secure the votes necessary to become the 267th pope.
Both Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI, were elected within two days, but the longest papal election lasted 1,006 days, from 1268 to 1271.
Challenges facing the Church
There is no clear frontrunner to succeed Francis, with the cardinals representing a range of progressive and conservative traditions within the Church. More than a dozen names are circulating, from Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa to Hungary’s Peter Erdo and Sri Lanka’s Malcolm Ranjith.
But there are numerous challenges facing the 2,000-year-old institution: falling priest numbers, the role of women, the Vatican’s troubled balance sheets, adapting the Church to the modern world, the continued fallout from the clerical child abuse scandal and – in the West – increasingly empty pews.
Paris Saint-Germain weathered one attack after another and showed remarkable adaptability to hold off and defeat an inspired Arsenal 2-1 to reach the Champions League final.
Deprived of the ball possession they so often enjoy, PSG looked in trouble early on but found the right answers to hurt the Gunners in the match on Wednesday.
They relied on counter-attacking football and an excellent Gianluigi Donnarumma to prevail, advancing 3-1 on aggregate.
“The feedback straightaway from their bench is that we were much better than them,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports after the game.
“When you look at the two games, the best player on the pitch has been their goalkeeper. He has made a difference for them in the tie.
“We were much closer than the results showed. I am very proud of the players, the way we handled the pressure, and after 20 minutes, it should have been 3-0.
“We are not there, and that has to hurt.”
PSG reached the final of Europe’s elite tournament for the second time in five years. They will take on Inter Milan on May 31 after the three-time champion defeated Barcelona 7-6 on aggregate in one of the greatest semifinals in the competition’s history.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Fabian Ruiz scores their first goal past Arsenal’s David Raya [Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters]
PSG had lost to Borussia Dortmund at this stage last year and was beaten by Bayern Munich in the 2020 final.
PSG broke the deadlock in the 27th minute from a set piece after the Arsenal defence cleared a free kick towards the edge of the area. The ball bounced back into the path of Fabian Ruiz, who smashed a stunning half-volley into the back of the net.
Achraf Hakimi curled in a precise finish in the 72nd minute to make it 2-0 on the night, before Bukayo Saka pulled one back for the Gunners.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi scores their second goal [Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]
The England forward then spurned an open goal minutes later and, with it, the last real chance for a comeback to truly be mounted.
PSG had earlier missed the chance to double their lead from the penalty spot when Ferreira Vitinha had his kick saved by David Raya.
The kick itself was somewhat controversial in that VAR (video assistant referee) called back play when Myles Lewis-Skelly’s hand was innocuously clipped by Hakimi’s shot.
“Over the two legs, we could have scored three or four more goals,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice told TNT Sports.
“Sometimes, you have to lose a few to win, you have to overcome some of these setbacks to grow as a player and a team.
“We are growing as a team, but we need to keep pushing and believing. This is why we play. There will be setbacks on the way.
